Re: [school-discuss] National educational file format

[brett hartshorn <bhartsho@yahoo.com>]

Hello,

I've had a look at the cast.org and the NCAC website.  It seems like the file format is not the
big issue here.  The issue is delivery, and how to make it instantly usable for everyone - even
students with disabilities.

There also needs to be a good way to get this into every classroom.  It should be no more
complicated than: send the teacher a cdrom, teacher puts the cdrom into any computer, and then a
interface pops up that the student can use.  If it requires: reading a manual, training, or an IT
person to set anything up, then it just won't work.

It should be possible to burn the entire k-12 curriculum onto just a few, or even a single cdrom. 


The cd should be: 
	Boot-able on pc and mac
	Linux, mac and windows compatible
	Built entirely with free and open software
	Come with built in burning software, and ability to easily copy itself.  
	Every student should be able to take home his own copy.
	Available for download on the net

The best place to start - assuming you already have some of the curriculum in a format that can be
converted into openOffice format – would be to hack this into OFSET's freeduc cdrom.  This is a pc
bootable cd with free educational software.  It requires no administration, it will boot into a
simple interface the student can immediately use.

http://ofset.sourceforge.net/


Regards,
-brett hartshorn
www.initialprairiedog.com


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